Homicide Suspect Arrested

Sheriff’s Homicide detectives have arrested a man in connection with the slaying of a woman and two children at a residence in Rancho Cordova yesterday. Grigoriy Bukhantsov, 19, was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail earlier this morning on three counts of murder, and is ineligible for bail at this time.

Yesterday afternoon, shortly after 3:30 p.m., Rancho Cordova police officers and Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 10100 block of Desoto Way. A caller said that his neighbor had returned home to find family members deceased inside of their residence.

Upon arriving at the scene, law enforcement personnel were directed to a home where a male outside the residence appeared extremely distraught. Officers went inside the home and discovered a female adult in her 20s, a two year-old boy, and a three year-old girl lying motionless on the floor of one of the rooms. It appeared that there had been a violent encounter, as evidenced by extensive trauma to each of the victims.

As officers were clearing the residence in an attempt to locate any additional victims and/or suspects, they heard a baby crying from a bedroom inside the home. They made their way through the house and discovered a six-month old boy, unharmed, in a crib in one of the bedrooms. That child was removed from the home and emergency medical personnel were immediately summoned. Upon arrival, paramedics pronounced the three aforementioned victims deceased. Each of them had injuries consistent with sharp force trauma.

Additional patrol personnel, homicide detectives, and CSI officers descended upon the scene to commence an investigation. Investigators developed information that a mini-van belonging to the family was missing from the residence. It was theorized that the person(s) responsible for the murders was/were likely in possession of that vehicle, apparently taken during the incident. A BOLO (“Be on the Lookout”) for that family’s vehicle was disseminated to law enforcement agencies throughout the region, as detectives began the painstaking process of moving forward with the investigation.

Investigators and other officers remained at the scene throughout the evening, processing evidence, conducting a neighborhood canvass, and gathering information from neighbors and family members who had gathered in the neighborhood.

At approximately 2:00 a.m. today, Rocklin police officers located the missing mini-van in the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant near Interstate 80 and Rocklin Road. They immediately notified the Sheriff’s Department, and detectives from the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau responded to their location. Upon arriving, they found the van to be unoccupied, so they, along with Rocklin police personnel, entered the restaurant in an attempt to locate/identify the driver of the mini-van.

Inside the restaurant, officers contacted 19 year-old Grigoriy Bukhantsov, who was identified as the brother-in-law to the female adult victim and uncle to the victim children. Bukhantsov was detained without incident, and transported to a Sheriff’s Department facility to be interviewed by Homicide detectives. The mini-van was towed and transported for evidentiary purposes.

Based on their investigation, Homicide detectives developed enough evidence to identify Bukhantsov as the person responsible for the murders of all three victims. While the investigation continues, Bukhantsov is not believed to have acted together with anyone during the commission of this crime, and detectives are not searching for any additional suspects. The motive for this tragedy is still being investigated, and anyone who may have information pertinent to the incident is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (916) 874-5115.